C-Itoh

CIE Systems, Subsidiary of C. Itoh Electronics, Inc.

Irvine, California-based CIE Systems was formed in 1982 as a subsidiary of C. Itoh Electronics Inc. (Los Angeles, California) to help round out that company's product line of printers, disk drives, monitors and other electronic components for OEM markets. CIE Systems is now part of the C. Itoh Electronics Group (CIEG) under parent company C. Itoh & Co. Ltd., Japan's second largest trading company and one of the world's largest corporations.

Following the company's formation, CIE Systems initially pursued the UNIX market, and when it found a lack of established distribution channels and application software, began to pursue its involvement in PICK. 1984 marks the year CIE became a licensee of PICK R84, and as of the summer of 1988, the company has experienced a quarter to quarter PICK growth rate of more than 60%, installing nearly 3,000 PICK systems. Currently, CIE does not offer a UNIX-based product. It does, however, have another computer product marketed, separately from PICK, under the name of RM/COS.

CIE's PICK computers are sold through an international network of more than 150 resellers. The American distribution network is exclusively handled by a separate company, BONNECO, initially under contract with CIE Systems, and now a subsidiary of C.Itoh. In a relationship that typifies the way C. Itoh, as a trading company, often operates, BONNECO serves as the exclusive PICK sales agent for CIE Systems in North America.

The CIES Systems' family of five fully compatible 68020-based multiuser models is topped off by the recently-announced CIES 680/750, supporting up to 512 users, and featuring the enhanced version of PICK, CIES Version 7.0. Other CIES 680 systems include the 250-user 680/550, the 128-user 680/275, the 64-user 680/250, the 32-user 680/175 and the 16-user 680/55.

References

• The PICK Spectrum 1989 Impact Study